LSU Basketball: Will Wade turning around the Tigers in the SEC

LSU Basketball is on the fast track back to SEC relevance thanks to head coach Will Wade wasting no time in his first 2 years in Baton Rouge.

The LSU Tigers participated in 13 NCAA Tournaments during the 25-year tenure of legendary coach Dale Brown. In the 21 years since his retirement, under five different coaches, the team has been to just six, and three of those times did the Tigers win a game. Second-year head coach Will Wade has wasted little time in trying to get the Tigers back to the glory days of Brown.

At just 35, Wade has spent the past 13 seasons on a bench at the Division I level. Having had stints as an assistant at Clemson, Harvard, and VCU, Wade was named head coach at Chattanooga in 2013. In two seasons with the Mocs, he led them to their first 20-win season in 20 years. In 2015 Wade returned to VCU to replace Shaka Smart. In his first season, Wade won the Atlantic 10 regular-season title, a first for the team, and upset No. 7 Oregon State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In his second and final season with the Rams, he led them to 26 wins and a seventh straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.

After two successful seasons with the Rams, Wade was hired to lead LSU last season. After winning just 10 games in 2016-17, Wade engineered an eight-win turnaround in his first campaign. The Tigers scored a win over national runner-up Michigan as well as a sweep of Texas A&M and a three-point loss in their only meeting with Kentucky last season. Despite finishing just 8-10 in the SEC Wade’s men earned a bid to the NIT. They beat in-state foe Louisiana before falling to Utah in the second round.

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The Tigers’ 2017 success was due in large part to underclassmen coming into their own. Junior guard Skylar Mays averaged 11 points, four rebounds and nearly three assists as a sophomore. Freshman guard Brandon Rachal added solid contributions in limited minutes, but it was classmate Tremont Waters who burst on to the stage as a true freshman. Waters poured in a career-high 39 points in an early-season contest with Marquette. He averaged 15.9 points, over three rebounds, and his six assists were good enough for 24^th in the country.

Wade hit the recruiting trail hard for this upcoming season and has nailed down the 3^rd best class in the country according to 247Sports. The class is headlined by a pair of five-star power forwards. Naz Reid is a 6-9 potential one-and-done recruit from New Jersey who has a soft shooting touch for a man his size. Reid registered a double-double at the McDonald’s All-America game in March. Emmitt Williams is ranked 26^th nationally and the 5^th best prospect in the state of Florida. The 6-7 big man has great length and will help the Tigers on the boards as he averaged over 17 points and 12 rebounds last season. Darius Days is another power forward who will add depth to the LSU frontcourt.

The backcourt also got some love with the top-ranked recruit in the state of Louisiana, Ja’Vonte Smart joining the team. The 6-4 guard has the ability to play both backcourt positions averaged 32.9 points, 10.6 rebounds, and six assists last season. Rounding out the stellar class is the 6-6 Marlon Taylor who lands in Baton Rouge after a year at Panola College in Texas. The shooting guard is the 4^th best junior college recruit in the country according to 247Sports.

Next: Preseason SEC Rankings for 2018-19

With one season in the books with the Tigers, Wade has spearheaded a turnaround in his first year and has used that to catapult to the top of most recruiting rankings. The SEC could be one of the most competitive and deepest conferences in the country, while the Tigers may not climb to the top just yet but Wade is making waves hoping to ride one of those waves there very soon.